Five more questions for the Jobs Minister about the “job creation” grant

“This program hasn’t been thought through,” said Clark. “I was happy to see an answer to my previous question regarding potential for double dipping. As that was well-received by the Minister, I have a few more questions.”

Here are Greg's five questions about the “job creation” grant:

1) How long do the “new” jobs have to last for companies to claim the credit? Can they hire someone for a week, claim the credit then lay off the new hire?

2) Is there a minimum number of hours required for each “new” job in order to claim the credit? Can a company or not-for-profit hire someone for one hour a week?

3) How will the government audit the program and how much will that cost? What measures will they use to determine these jobs are truly “new” and not simply giving free money to companies that were going to hire anyway?

4) Does the program apply to contractors or just full-time employees?

5) Are companies that have recently laid off workers eligible? For example, if a company laid off 100 workers last week then hires 100 workers in January, can they claim the grant?

Clark said an investor tax credit is a more effective means of creating jobs.

“Providing an incentive for investment to flow to business allows entrepreneurs to determine how best to deploy their capital,” said Clark. “This can be in direct hiring, the purchase of equipment to improve productivity or even the purchase of another business.

“Growing businesses create economic activity, and economic activity creates jobs. If that’s the goal, I call on the NDs to scrap this poorly thought-out program and replace it with an investor tax credit.”

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ken Chapman commented
2015-11-08 17:20:35 -0700

These questions should have been answered in a backgrounder with the announcement. This is a good move especially expanded to more kinds of employers. Without controls it is subject to abuse by unscrupulous opportunists.